Tag Archives: after

From the author: After performing in bands throughout high school, college and thereafter (simultaneously spending three post-graduation years as a middle school history and math teacher), I began my career in audio by owning and operating a small recording studio in northeastern Pennsylvania.

My studio created and recorded advertising jingles for local businesses and also provided audio equipment for live events. When the early ‘70s gasoline crisis limited the ability of clients to travel to my studio, I had to close the business. On the upside, I was immediately hired as a sound engineer by Clair Bros., which was (and still is) the largest live audio company in the United States, spending the following 13 years as one of the chief sound engineers for the company’s road staff, traveling the world to provide the highest level of sound quality for major rock n’ roll concerts.

In 1982, wanting to get off the road, I was hired as a general manager for Mountain Productions, one of the largest scaffolding companies in Pennsylvania, and shortly thereafter, another large East Coast audio company, Maryland Sound International (MSI), asked me to open and manage its first West Coast division. I accepted the position of general manager of MSI and remained there for three years.

I was then offered the position of general manager at a competing company, ATK Audiotek, and after nine years in that role, my partners and I took ownership of ATK and my title became that of president. When I joined ATK, there were six employees. As of today, the company is in its third location, a 56,000-square-foot facility in Valencia, CA, with more than 90 employees.

ATK is recognized as a premiere audio company, counting The Super Bowl, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, Academy Awards, American Idol, The X Factor, The Voice and Dancing With The Stars among its many clients. After 21 years at the helm, as well as 20 previous years of live audio experience, I decided to retire and pursue both recreational and professional interests at my leisure.

On a personal note: I’ve always been interested in sound and in how every “noise” has its own unique and distinct collection of frequencies. When I was growing up, I had no idea as to how these sounds could be changed or modified. I think my fascination was due, at least in part, to being surrounded by glorious classical music.

My mother was the co-principal cellist of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and many of those string quartet rehearsals were held in the living room of our house. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the string quartet was composed of superior musicians who were playing on handmade, extremely high-caliber instruments. Couple that with great acoustics, and one has the beginnings of a great introduction to sound.

I kept asking myself: Why didn’t every string quartet sound like this one? What makes the difference? Is it the players, the surroundings, the instruments—what? I had to know. And I could not have asked for a better initiation into the world of audio.

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I was lucky that during the Summer of ‘75 Tour, my mixing skills for The Beach Boys attracted the attention of Chicago’s road manager, Jack Goudie. He liked how I achieved a balanced mix (a blend of both vocals and instrumentation) as well as the “in your face” sound that felt up close and personal.

Jack had started talking to me and asked if I’d like to become Chicago’s full-time live audio engineer. While I was still enamored with The Beach Boys, Chicago was a “current” entity who were churning out and charting at least one top 10 Billboard hit every year. Over time, Chicago would become second only to The Beach Boys in terms of Billboard singles and albums chart success.

Chicago’s popularity was huge in the mid-to-late ‘70s. They were selling out every venue regardless of its size. But the band knew, after the summer tour with The Beach Boys, that their sound was more tailored for smaller venues with better acoustics. The best venues were the open amphitheaters (called sheds then and to this day), which had covered and reserved seating for about 6,000 and open seating behind them for an additional 10,000 to 12,000. These were excellent sounding venues and were the perfect place to see a technical group like Chicago. During the summer, we started doing shed tours where the entire summer was spent at these types of venues, doing multi-night bookings of eight to 12 days at Pine Knob outside of Detroit, five to seven days at Merriweather Post outside of Baltimore, and at least two or three days each at numerous other sheds throughout the country.

A much more current photo of the author.

When I started with them, the band had just released their eighth album titled “Chicago VIII,” which contained two hits, “Harry Truman” and “Old Days.” The songs were totally different from each other, with “Old Days” being the more rock and up-tempo of the two. Most of Chicago’s songs were well balanced with jazz, rock, and fusion instrumentation, a big reason their sound became so popular. The band was also well balanced instrumentally; no single section of the group would overpower the rest of the instruments, and they always blended together as integral parts of a song.

In other groups, the brass sections were piercing and many times painful to listen to. That was partly because brass players, especially trumpeters, have to blow very hard into the instruments to hit the higher register of notes. This results in higher sound pressure levels (SPL) coming from the brass section, which is why they’re always the loudest in a band or orchestra and why they’re always placed at the rear or to the side of the stage—so they don’t overpower the audience’s ability to hear a full blend of the other instruments.

Being one of the first groups besides Blood Sweat and Tears to achieve a balanced sound gave Chicago that extra dimension of sound with brass “woven” into the “fabric of their music.” This group was exciting to listen to and exhilarating to work with.

Audio veteran Mark Haynes passed away this week after a long bout of fighting complications and infections stemming from knee surgery. He began his audio career in the early 1970s with Showco, Inc., one of the pioneers in large-scale sound reinforcement, where he toured nationally and internationally as FOH engineer for Alice Cooper, The Band, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Jefferson Airplane and other headliners.

After many years on the road, in the mid-1980’s he joined leading retailer Leo’s Professional Audio in Oakland, CA, where he worked for 26 years, eventually becoming vice president of sales. In 2012, Mark moved to Emeryville, Calif.-based video and film integration firm company Advanced Systems Group (ASG), where he expanded the company’s audio business, specializing in contributing an audio perspective to video-centric projects.

Mark Haynes was a likeable and personable guy with a wonderful sense of humor, an encyclopedic sense of audio knowledge and many friends throughout the audio production and music industries. He will be missed by all who knew him. Rest in peace, old friend.

Audio veteran Mark Haynes passed away this week after a long bout of fighting complications and infections stemming from knee surgery. He began his audio career in the early 1970s with Showco, Inc., one of the pioneers in large-scale sound reinforcement, where he toured nationally and internationally as FOH engineer for Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Jefferson Airplane and other headliners.

After many years on the road, in the mid-1980’s he joined leading retailer Leo’s Professional Audio in Oakland, CA, where he worked for 26 years, eventually becoming vice president of sales. In 2012, Mark moved to Emeryville, Calif.-based video and film integration firm company Advanced Systems Group (ASG), where he expanded the company’s audio business, specializing in contributing an audio perspective to video-centric projects.

Mark Haynes was a likeable and personable guy with a wonderful sense of humor, an encyclopedic sense of audio knowledge and many friends throughout the audio production and music industries. He will be missed by all who knew him. Rest in peace, old friend.

Talent is currently being cast for the short film “Shade.”
“Shade,” named after its lead character, tells the story of a teenage girl with a strange condition causing incessant hunger.
Several lead and supporting roles are being cast for this short film, and some nudity will be required. Submissions are being sought from the Los Angeles area, and actors should be open and sharp.
For more details, check out the casting notice for “Shade” here, and be sure to check out the rest of our Los Angeles audition listings!

SAN FRANCISCO – After taking over as The Killers’ FOH engineer, Kenny Kaiser was not fond of their previous FOH console and knew instantly that he’d need to make a switch. Luckily, Hi-Tech Audio had just receive a new SSL Live console, and Kaiser was eager to put it to the test on The Killer’s summer tour. As Kaiser is part of a new breed of engineers, The Killers’ previous mix platform just wasn’t his style. “There was too much button pushing to get to certain places and it was too spread out,” he continues. “There were fader banks on either side, so I had to do a lot of left and right movements. With Live, it’s more centralized. I don’t have to move around the console and I can stay in one spot, hit one button and quickly do what I need to do.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Following The Killers’ wildly successful 2013 Battle Born world tour, performing in 50 countries and headlining arenas on six continents – including a sold-out Wembley Stadium show for which they wrote The Wembley Song – the Las Vegas-based phenomenon is back on the road this summer in support of their Direct Hits greatest hits compilation. With appearances at North American and U.K. music festivals, the band’s FOH engineer, Kenny Kaiser, is delivering their chart toppers with help from the new SSL Live console.

Kaiser works for Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California, serving as PA tech or system tech for Selena Gomez, Train and as monitor tech and crew chief for The Foo Fighters, among others. After moving to the Killers’ camp last year, he took over the helm for their 2014 tour. However, Kaiser was not fond of their previous FOH console and knew instantly that he’d need to make a switch.

“Delicate is a great partner of Hi-Tech Audio [supplier of the SSL Live console for the tour] in San Francisco, where I’m based,” he says. “Louis Adamo, president of Hi-Tech, called to say they had a new SSL console, so I went down and played with it. I found it fluid and the surface very intuitive. I also had a chance to take a class for engineers and production companies. After I took the class, I found the console even more intriguing. One thing that stuck in my mind was actually taking it apart and looking inside at how it’s made – it’s built like a tank. Plus, with the name SSL, you can’t go wrong; that’s a great name in consoles.”

As Kaiser is part of a new breed of engineers, The Killers’ previous mix platform just wasn’t his style. “There was too much button pushing to get to certain places and it was too spread out,” he continues. “There were fader banks on either side, so I had to do a lot of left and right movements. With Live, it’s more centralized. I don’t have to move around the console and I can stay in one spot, hit one button and quickly do what I need to do.”

Kaiser, who will occasionally use other consoles for events supported by Delicate, finds SSL Live to be more convenient to work on due to its flexibility and the manner in which an engineer can customize the fader banks. “It’s very intuitive and user-friendly,” he adds. “There are a lot of options as to how you can set up SSL Live.”

The accuracy of the console also stood out to Kaiser. “Because my background is a system tech, I’m an audio measurement and phase dork,” he explains. “Some engineers might have an eight or 10 dB boost or cut on an EQ band and my thought, if you have to do that, is that something is wrong – either the wrong mic or the console isn’t doing what the engineer needs. I now find that certain things I used to do, I don’t have to do anymore because the EQ does what it says its doing. When you’re on the first band and you want a cut at 120 Hz, it actually does 120. Some consoles say they’re doing 120, but then when you actually plug it in and check, it’s not quite there. Sometimes the Q isn’t quite what it says; with this console, it’s precise.”

Another big hit was Live’s onboard effects. “Everything is built-in, the reverbs sound glorious and it’s all on board,” says Kaiser. “I don’t have to go out and buy a console and then say, ‘Okay, now I need some external piece of software or hardware to get what I want.’ Everything I need is right there in one box to make the sound how I need to make it, which makes my job easier.”

But it doesn’t just stop at the effects, the console’s all-pass filters were also a big selling point for Kaiser. “As a system tech, I use all-pass filters to align side hangs to the mains,” he explains. “Being able to have that on inputs to align a pair of kick or snare drum mics is a huge tool to get the phase just right.”

Kaiser also mentions the clarity and distinctness that each instrument has in his mix. “On other consoles, once you start adding more stuff, you hear them start to overload and hear the coherence start to go away, but not with the SSL Live. SSL definitely did their homework to make it sound as analogue as possible. This console is the most analogue-correct digital console I’ve ever encountered. It sounds phenomenal.”

The Killers recently headlined the Hangout Festival on the sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama where the console was put to the true test of the weather. Kaiser notes, “despite the heat, high humidity, wind and sandstorms that we encountered that weekend, the console was just great.”

SAN FRANCISCO – After taking over as The Killers’ FOH engineer, Kenny Kaiser turned to Hi-Tech Audio for its recently-acquired SSL Live console. Kaiser credited the desk for its centralized control layout. “I don’t have to move around the console, and I can stay in one spot, hit one button and quickly do what I need to do.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Following The Killers’ wildly successful 2013 Battle Born world tour, performing in 50 countries and headlining arenas on six continents – including a sold-out Wembley Stadium show for which they wrote The Wembley Song – the Las Vegas-based phenomenon is back on the road this summer in support of their Direct Hits greatest hits compilation. With appearances at North American and U.K. music festivals, the band’s FOH engineer, Kenny Kaiser, is delivering their chart toppers with help from the new SSL Live console.

Kaiser works for Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California, serving as PA tech or system tech for Selena Gomez, Train and as monitor tech and crew chief for The Foo Fighters, among others. After moving to the Killers’ camp last year, he took over the helm for their 2014 tour. However, Kaiser was not fond of their previous FOH console and knew instantly that he’d need to make a switch.

“Delicate is a great partner of Hi-Tech Audio [supplier of the SSL Live console for the tour] in San Francisco, where I’m based,” he says. “Louis Adamo, president of Hi-Tech, called to say they had a new SSL console, so I went down and played with it. I found it fluid and the surface very intuitive. I also had a chance to take a class for engineers and production companies. After I took the class, I found the console even more intriguing. One thing that stuck in my mind was actually taking it apart and looking inside at how it’s made – it’s built like a tank. Plus, with the name SSL, you can’t go wrong; that’s a great name in consoles.”

As Kaiser is part of a new breed of engineers, The Killers’ previous mix platform just wasn’t his style. “There was too much button pushing to get to certain places and it was too spread out,” he continues. “There were fader banks on either side, so I had to do a lot of left and right movements. With Live, it’s more centralized. I don’t have to move around the console and I can stay in one spot, hit one button and quickly do what I need to do.”

Kaiser, who will occasionally use other consoles for events supported by Delicate, finds SSL Live to be more convenient to work on due to its flexibility and the manner in which an engineer can customize the fader banks. “It’s very intuitive and user-friendly,” he adds. “There are a lot of options as to how you can set up SSL Live.”

The accuracy of the console also stood out to Kaiser. “Because my background is a system tech, I’m an audio measurement and phase dork,” he explains. “Some engineers might have an eight or 10 dB boost or cut on an EQ band and my thought, if you have to do that, is that something is wrong – either the wrong mic or the console isn’t doing what the engineer needs. I now find that certain things I used to do, I don’t have to do anymore because the EQ does what it says its doing. When you’re on the first band and you want a cut at 120 Hz, it actually does 120. Some consoles say they’re doing 120, but then when you actually plug it in and check, it’s not quite there. Sometimes the Q isn’t quite what it says; with this console, it’s precise.”

Another big hit was Live’s onboard effects. “Everything is built-in, the reverbs sound glorious and it’s all on board,” says Kaiser. “I don’t have to go out and buy a console and then say, ‘Okay, now I need some external piece of software or hardware to get what I want.’ Everything I need is right there in one box to make the sound how I need to make it, which makes my job easier.”

But it doesn’t just stop at the effects, the console’s all-pass filters were also a big selling point for Kaiser. “As a system tech, I use all-pass filters to align side hangs to the mains,” he explains. “Being able to have that on inputs to align a pair of kick or snare drum mics is a huge tool to get the phase just right.”

Kaiser also mentions the clarity and distinctness that each instrument has in his mix. “On other consoles, once you start adding more stuff, you hear them start to overload and hear the coherence start to go away, but not with the SSL Live. SSL definitely did their homework to make it sound as analogue as possible. This console is the most analogue-correct digital console I’ve ever encountered. It sounds phenomenal.”

The Killers recently headlined the Hangout Festival on the sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama where the console was put to the true test of the weather. Kaiser notes, “despite the heat, high humidity, wind and sandstorms that we encountered that weekend, the console was just great.”

After his last challenge at ACS from 2010 to 2014 as Manager for the Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam locations, XL Video has brought Bertil van Veen back into the company, where he previously worked from 2008 to 2009.

Twenty years after escaping from Shawshank, Tim Robbins once again finds himself working behind bars.
This time he’s not doing tax returns for the guards or hiding a warden’s ill-gotten gains. The Actors’ Gang, the theater company co-founded by the “Shawshank Redemption” actor some 33 years ago, has received its first state grant to expand its work in California’s notorious prison system.
Robbins, who also wrote, produced, and directed the prison drama “Dead Man Walking,” said the program “allows prisoners to feel a sense of community that diminishes in-prison violence, and enables them to develop emotional and social skills that aid in a positive return to society.”
The Actors’ Gang has run the program at the California Institution for Men, California Institution for Women, and California Rehabilitation Center since 2006. It now plans to expand to other facilities.
“The reason that the Actors’ Gang was started was because Tim and the other actors who created it really believed strongly that the arts had a very, very integral role in society and that actors should be socially responsible,” Sabra Williams, director of the company’s Prison

Last Wednesday, just a few days after the 2014 Tony Awards ceremony, we were surprised — and somewhat shocked — to hear about a decision by the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Award Administration Committee about plans to discontinue the annual Tony Awards in the categories of “Best Sound Design of a Play” and “Best Sound Design of a Musical.”

Added in 2008, these awards have truly mirrored the advancement of both the art and science of theatre sound, as expressed by Howard Sherman, who was the ATW’s executive director from 2003 to 2011. “We want to reflect an evolution of the understanding of the sound designer’s role, both among artists and in the community at large,” Sherman said. “This is not an award for placing a microphone somewhere. It’s about the creation of an aural environment that impacts our relationship to a production, just like any other design.”

That statement seems pretty clear. Yet according to an unnamed source quoted in the New York Times on June 12th, the decision to drop the two sound categories was made because many of the award committee members “do not know what sound design is, or how to assess it.”

Internet Steps Up

And with a sizeable number of postings on social media lambasting the proposed award deletions, the reaction throughout the audio, music and consumer communities spread swiftly. A web-based petition on http://petition.tonycanyouhearme.com criticizing the action quickly drew more than 30,000 names, while Twitter and Facebook pages began featuring photos of numerous industry luminaries holding photos with the hashtag #tonycanyouhearme.com sharing their support.

Meanwhile major audio organizations — including the Audio Engineering Society, USITT and the London-based Association of Sound Designers (ASD) expressed their concerns. “The big topic of discussion in the AES community was the recent decision to drop the Tony Award for Sound Design,” wrote AES executive director Bob Moses in a letter to ATW. “People are really hurt, and really angry.”

Industry Reactions

Reaction to the award committee’s suggestion that the two annual sound awards could be replaced by an occasional award for sound was not welcomed as a substitute. In a press release response to the proposed change, the U.K.’s ASD stated: “To absent sound designers and their work from the awards is a failure to respect the contribution that sound designers make as core members of a show’s creative team and the artistry that they bring to a show. The suggestion that a ‘special Tony may be bestowed in the future when a production has extraordinary sound design’ — provides little consolation. Marginalizing sound design is a profoundly retrograde step.”

The USITT reaction was no less pointed. In a letter to AWT, USITT executive director David Grindle wrote that the move “implies that all previous sound design winners’ work has been unworthy.” He went on to suggest that “a week without the sound designs running on Broadway would leave audiences outraged and demanding refunds.”

Hopefully the issue will be settled to the satisfaction of the theatre sound community, but perhaps something good can come from this. “One positive thing for all of us is developing a dialog and collaboration between these two organizations [AES and USITT] that are both so important to us as designers and technicians,” said Dave Tosti-Lane, AES’ Pacific Northwest Section chair, commissioner for the USITT’s Sound Commission, and a noted educator, author and sound designer in his own right. “We are fortunate that the executive directors of both — Bob for AES and David for USITT — are committed to finding ways to work together on many levels.”

SAVANNAH, GA — After a 14-year, $14 million restoration, the historic Lucas Theatre here reopened in 2000 as the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. The most recent improvement has been an Alcons Audio system, provided last year by Jon Maslansky of Summit Systems with the approval of theatre manager David Harris.

The story of how a group of residents from Savannah, Georgia, joined together to save the city’s historic Lucas Theatre from demolition has entered American theatrical folklore. Not content with just saving it, however, the building continues to be updated for 21st century audiences. The most recent improvement has been an Alcons Audio system, which has delivered superb sound without impacting on the venue’s aesthetics.

Originally opened in 1921, dwindling audiences saw the Lucas Theatre close in 1976. Various attempts to convert it to different uses came to nothing and a decade later the derelict building was on the brink of demolition. But a spirited local campaign saw the venue purchased and the start of what would ultimately be a 14-year, $14 million restoration.

Reopened in 2000 as Lucas Theatre for the Arts, nowadays the venue is supported by Savannah College of Art and Design and plays a central role in city life, hosting a diverse array of films, plays, musicals, corporate events and all kinds of live music. It also plays a key role in the annual Savannah Film Festival, staged by the college every October and attracting over 40,000 visitors.

Last year Jon Maslansky of Summit Systems, based in Buford, Georgia, was working with the venue to solve several control and infrastructure issues. Theatre manager David Harris had also been looking to improve the venue’s ageing audio system, but its architectural and historic importance meant that the visual appearance of any new system was every bit as important as delivering high quality sound.

“Given the theatre’s remarkable survival, through many political and economic pressures, there was major concern about the aesthetics,” says Jon. “Having worked closely with David on other issues, we gained his trust and were able to work closely with the theatre management, assuring them that we could deliver a suitable solution.”

After significant research, systems by Alcons Audio and two other manufacturers were selected for onsite demonstrations.

“The criteria for the chosen system were that the system had to maximise audio performance for all uses of the venue, but with absolutely minimal visual impact. The Alcons solution out-performed the other systems in every respect,” says Jon.

The installed system comprises per side 12 LR7 micro sized pro-ribbon line array modules, each with 6.5” woofer and RBN401 proprietary 4” pro-ribbon driver and two LR7B flown bass units, with dual-tuned 12” woofer. Additionally there are two BF181 single 18” subs beneath the stage; To support the regular showing of movies as well as the annual Savannah Film Festival, a brand new cinema centre channel was installed, working together with the left and right LR7 arrays.

The flown centre channel consists of three Cinemarray CRA24 modules, with each 3-way module featuring two RBN401 4” pro-ribbon drivers, two 6.5” vented mid-ranges and two 12” vented woofers. The similar transducer configuration of LR7 and CRA24 makes for a perfect left-center-right blending.

Not only is it the first US theatre/cinema hybrid installation using Alcons equipment, it’s also the first US-deployment of the Sentinel; Alcons’ proprietary DSP amplification platform. The complete Lucas sound system is powered and controlled by 3 Sentinel3 and 1 Sentinel10 quad-channel amplified loudspeaker controllers, with speaker-specific drive power and processing.

“Alcons made the project very easy,” says Jon. “From the demonstration, through the design, installation and post-installation support, I was very impressed with the importance/priority that the company put on the overall project and our integrator/manufacturer relationship.

Every response from Lucas Theatre staff and users towards the system has been extremely positive. Indeed, Savannah College of Art and Design was so impressed with the improvement in audio quality that Alcons was asked to install a temporary audio system in the nearby Trustees Theater for the duration of the annual film festival.

“We love the Alcons system. It’s very versatile – we do so many things in the space and it’s more than up to the task for every one of them,” say Lucas Theatre manager David Harris and production manager Bryan Bailey. “We are happy with the partnership; not only do we love the product, the support we receive is second to none!”

Promising to sell 16 million copies and to break up in a blaze of smoke after 18 months, Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers released their incendiary debut double album, Generation Terrorists, in 1992. While neither of these ultra-idealistic goals were achieved, the band has since become something of a national treasure and has accumulated eight top 10 albums, 15 top 10 singles (including a number one) and a loyal fanbase. TPi caught up with the crew behind the Manic Street Preachers latest tour of the UK and Europe ahead of the release of their 12th studio album, Futurology, later this year.

LIVERPOOL, U.K. — Everyman Theatre reopened after a $47 million refurbishment with an illuminated procession staged by Liverpool’s Lantern Company. The event, which got an assist from Walk the Plank, included lantern puppets and a 20-minute lighting and pyro extravaganza. dbn Lighting supplied lighting gear including SGM Palco LED wash fixtures, LED PARs on specially designed brackets, Studio Due CityColor LED washes and Clay Paky Sharpys and Sharpy Wash fixtures, with a Jands Vista S2 for control.

The theatre is known for its dedication to radical theatre and new works. The refurbishment has been 10 years in the planning and seen nearly three years of construction with a spend of £28 million.

dbn and outdoor arts experts Walk The Plank are frequent collaborators and all their shows require an imaginative and lateral approach explains Stephen Page, and this was also the brief when it came to Lights Up.

The event commenced with an illuminated procession, courtesy of Liverpool’s Lantern Company, featuring 300 lanterns, created by the Theatre’s community partners and groups and bands along with members of Young Everyman Playhouse.

Three huge lantern puppets led the way, bearing keys to the new theatre. The parade traveled through the heart of the city center and up Mount Pleasant towards the Everyman, collecting crowds of people as it progressed. Participants and audiences gathered at the top of Mount Pleasant between the Everyman Theatre and the Catholic Cathedral, where a small stage was set up for a series of performances including Liverpool based Sense of Sound and the screening of a specially commissioned Dear Everyman film.

Page lit the circular Liverpool Medical Institution building behind the stage with SGM Palco LED wash fixtures bringing more depth and an additional dimension to the picture.

At the culmination of the performance, the three illuminated lantern puppets then inserted a large, glowing red key into the ‘Y’ of the Everyman’s sign and turned it — this was the cue to re-light the iconic sign itself and trigger a lighting and pyro extravaganza, bringing the building to life and declaring the ‘new’ Everyman open.

Page’s lighting design was a combination of style and idiosyncrasy. The dbn crew rigged LED PARs on specially designed brackets to the rear of the steel framework supporting the new, iconic ‘Portrait Wall’ that covers the upper two floors of the refurbished building – a grid of 105 steel stenciled figures acting as louvers to shield the offices from the sun. Silhouetted in colors and animated by fast chases, these took on a completely new dimension, which brought them to life as they appeared to move in the flickering lights.

In addition, the façade was further lit from the front with four Studio Due CityColor LED washes on the ground, positioned in a row on the opposite side of the street.

There was a cluster of four Sharpys and three Sharpy Washes behind the Everyman sign, and this Sharpy configuration was repeated on the roof, together with more SGM Palcos all of which crowned the building at the top level.

Page operated the 20-minute show’s lighting from a doorway across the street using a Jands Vista S2 for control.

Challenges included fixing the PARs back-lighting the steel figures on the building without damaging or scratching the gleaming new metalwork.

“It was a fantastic project in which to be involved,” says Page, “Some great teamwork between us and Walk the Plank was really enjoyable and yielded excellent results, with the whole event looking fabulous, reopening a Liverpool institution, and really engaging people – there was a real sense of celebration”.

The new Everyman Theatre, designed by Haworth Tompkins includes a new 400-seat theatre and technical facilities to support the venue’s proactive and highly respected program of work.

It provides a welcoming, inspiring building and a ‘creative hub’ which can be enjoyed by all, plus a dedicated youth and community space to facilitate the theatres’ work with schools, community groups and the YEP (Young Everyman Playhouse).There’s also a brand new version of the much loved Everyman Bistro; new front-of-house catering and bar facilities, rehearsal space and production workshops. The building ticks several environmental sustainability boxes including natural ventilation.

CORREGGIO, Italy — After the release of his latest album, Mondovisione, Luciano Ligabue embarked on a tour of Italy that began in late March. Tour stop venues range dramatically in size from the relatively compact Piccole Città here to much larger outdoor stadiums. LD Jò Campana included both Clay Paky Sharpys and Alpha Beam 700s in the rig.

The events are structured in two completely different ways for obvious reasons, which are technically adapted to the needs of these two almost diametrically opposite types of venue.

He has just concluded the first leg in small town venues (named Piccole Città after an old song by Luciano). It consisted of a series of concerts that were in some ways “back-to-basics”. It was a way of re-establishing a more direct contact between the artist and his audience, and it was no coincidence that day one of the tour took place in Correggio.

The lighting designer, Jò Campana, said: “My technical approach and the consequent lighting design were in keeping with the project philosophy, and the choice not to use visual media was an important distinctive element in itself: so lights only, and purely ‘tracer’ types to boot, for the vast majority of the backlighting. They were fitted in pre-wired cages, customized for the occasion with a lot of intentionally visible iron.”

“The lighting equipment I used included both Sharpys and Alpha Beam 700s. They were perfect for my needs owing to their proven efficiency, small dimensions and light weight. Since I wanted to give the show a rather beefy aggressive look, I did not include any Spot or Profile family lights in my order to the rental company Agorà, and on those rare occasions when I wanted to use gobos intensively, the Sharpys proved to be up to the mark thanks to their versatility. I should add that I used the Beam 700s as pure front lighting for the first time ever by setting them with their frost filters by default. Since the distances at these venues are not measured in parsecs, they played the roles I assigned them perfectly.”

“In short, I got yet another confirmation that two-plus hours of high quality lights alone, if properly programmed, are still perfectly able to light a rock concert of this type and, what is more, make sure I carry on enjoying my job. Lastly, I hope you will come and see us at the concerts in the big stadiums. We are in full pre-production stage and the set-up will be completely different as far as design concept and dimensions are concerned … only one thing will be the same: the large number of Clay Paky lights.”

After the release of his latest album entitled Mondovisione, Luciano Ligabue left on a tour of Italy consisting of a series of live concerts. They are hosted in several different types of structure ranging from low capacity provincial indoor stadiums to huge spacious big city stadiums, with a possible future extension abroad.

MIAMI — After a security guard was severely injured by non-ticketed gate crashers on the opening Friday of the 2014 Ultra Music Festival, which had returned to a single-weekend format March 28-30, Miami mayor Tomas Regalado vowed to permanently ban the festival from the city.

Regalado took event organizers to task for failing to address an inspected and identified weak spot in the fence where Contemporary Services Corporation security guard Erica Mack, 28, was trampled by an unruly mob. Mack suffered serious brain hemorrhaging in the incident and reportedly faces a long recovery.

Although one commissioner joined Regalado in opposing an Ultra Music Festival 2015, four others voted to keep the festival at Miami’s downtown Bayfront Park. The event’s organizers successfully argued that, along with its economic benefits, the event has enhanced Miami’s international allure. The 2015 event is set for March 27-29.

After winning Best Electronic Artist at the MTV EMA Awards, Avicii was then crowned Best Electronic Artist at the 2013 AMAs beating fellow nominees Calvin Harris, Daft Punk and Zedd. Single Hey Brother released via PRMD / Positiva, was the third single to be taken from his critically acclaimed debut album, True. TPI talked to the crew on the road in Europe to learn how the Swedish DJ / Producer embarked on a world tour with an impressive production in tow.